


With oath sworn like these

by nazangel



Series: Comfortember 2020: ToG Edition [4]
Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Aelin and Rowan are tired, Children, F/M, Family, Fenrys and Lorcan are good oath sworn, Gen, He still doesn't know what to do with affection, Lorcan can be a good bro, Lorcan might be a little ooc, Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:48:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28908837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nazangel/pseuds/nazangel
Summary: Rowan and Aelin are tired parents. Lorcan and Fenrys are to the rescue.
Relationships: Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien & Fenrys, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien & Lorcan Salvaterre, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien/Rowan Whitethorn, Fenrys & Lorcan Salvaterre, Fenrys & Rowan Whitethorn, Lorcan Salvaterre & Rowan Whitethorn
Series: Comfortember 2020: ToG Edition [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2015711
Kudos: 46
Collections: Comfortember 2020





	With oath sworn like these

Rowan startled awake as a pricing cry of a baby filled the air. Beside him, his Fireheart groaned and turned over, gently holding her stomach.

"Not again," Aelin murmured, "Mala above, the poor boy is going to cry and scream his voice away,"

Rowan murmured his agreement and was about to get up when their son's cries suddenly stopped. His wide eyes met his wife for a split second and then he was jumping out of the bed and racing toward the jointed nursery.

They had sent the nanny away. No one was supposed to be-

As he was about to open the door, a familiar wave of controlled, dark magic hit him and he sighed in relief.

He turned to his wife who was hurrying up behind him, a worried look on her face.

"It's alright," he told her, "It seems like out broody companion finally made it,"

Rowan opened the door and sure enough, Lorcan was pacing the length of the room while gently cooing at the baby in his arms. Cadyn was still softly sniffling but the attention of his uncle seemed to have done the trick. He was a lot more calmer.

"You know," said Aelin, "You could have announced yourself better. Nearly gave us a scare,"

Lorcan gave her a sheepish look, "Apologies. The storm slowed me down a bit but I promised Fenrys I would be here to train the recruits with him first thing in the morning. I was passing in front of your suite when I heard him cry. My ears are a bit more sensitive than your human guards,"

Rowan smiled at him. Lorcan might have a hard time sparing any sincere apologies but Rowan knew he meant that one. The older male had made it no secret that he adored the Whitethorn Glathynius children and he took the safety and care of their children as seriously as he took his own.

"He is at the peak of his cold," said Aelin told Lorcan, while gently stroking Cadyn's hair, "And honestly I haven't seen him this peaceful in days. I never had this much trouble with his sister,"

Rowan moved closer to his wife, gently placing a hand on her back, "It's not your fault, Love. Every child is different. And I haven't had much luck either,"

"Not to mention the two of you weren't in this much stress when you were with Evalin," said Lorcan

"Oh?" said Aelin, raining her eyebrows, bemused. Rowan's own lips quirked up in a smile

"Hmm," said Lorcan, his eyes on Cadyn and completely oblivious to their amusement, "You have all these treaties lined up and not to mention you became with child again only four months after this little one was born, and now you're five months along. Small children can pick up on moods, you know. He's probably sensing that his mama is very stressed and very tired while his papa is ready to pull his hair out,"

When he didn't get any response, Lorcan looked up to see his Queen and companion suppressing laughter.

"What?" he said, annoyed

"Pray tell us, Lord Lorcan Lochan," said Aelin, a grin on her face, "How did you come to know all this? If I didn't know better, I would say you've been taking lessons from the healers and midwives,"

"That _name_ ," He growled at her, "You are very lucky I'm holding your child right now,"

Aelin merely smirked.

"Come on, Queen," Lorcan grumbled, "You know my son and daughter are only a year apart. Who do you think walked around with Zirrek while his mother was carrying his sister,"

"I'll give you that," said Aelin, "Well, thank you for your service Lord Lorcan Lochan but we will relieve you now,"

Lorcan looked to the child and then to Aelin's outstretched arms.

"I have a better idea," he said, "Why don't you two say goodnight and I'll stay with the little one. Poor thing is probably going to want constant company,"

"We can-" started Rowan

"And probably needs it too just in case he develops a fever," continued Lorcan, talking over Rowan

"Lorcan," said Aelin with clear exasperation in her voice

"The two of you seem much too tired to be staying awake and I know you don't want to bother the nanny since you already sent her away,"

Rowan raised his eyebrows at him, "Are you sure this isn't another attempt at spending more time with and I quote ' _the most adorable little thing_ '?"

Lorcan stared back at him with a blank face, "You have meetings in the morning too, don't you? I can function on very little sleep, you cannot,"

Aelin sighed and turned to him so they could lock their eyes together.

_He's being annoying again. We never should have introduced our children to him._

_A much as it pains me to admit it, he is right._

_Really? He'll become even more insufferable about hogging them._

_Fireheart._

_He's worse than Fenrys!_

After a little more back and forth, they finally turned back to Lorcan. He looked at them expectantly.

"Fine," said Aelin, "But I expect my child to be in perfect shape come morning,"

"Of course," said Lorcan, in obvious delight. He gave Cadyn over so they could say goodnight. The little boy squirmed a bit in their hold but settled back when they gave him back to Lorcan. If Rowan didn't know better, he would say Cadyn preferred the other male.

"Don't be foolish," said Lorcan

Rowan looked at him in surprise, "What?"

"I know what you're thinking, idiot," he said, "I'm just a lot warmer than you, that's all,"

Aelin snorted, "Come on, Buzzard. Uncle Lo has it handled I think,"

"Yes. Yes," said Lorcan, practically shooing them away "Go to sleep. Cadyn and I will be fine,"

Rowan shook his head as they headed back to their room. As he closed the door behind him, he heard his companion murmuring to his son.

" _Did you hear that, Cadyn? You're going to spend the night with Uncle Lo. Yes, you are_ ,"

Rowan couldn't help but smile to himself at Lorcan's, admittedly adorable, antics. If he had known that it would take children to make Lorcan more tolerable, he would have made the cadre adopt a hoard of them years ago.

xxx

Lorcan had stayed up with Cadyn the whole night, gently coddling him and giving him his draughts when necessary. Now, he stood by the window as the sun coloured the horizon, almost as beautiful as the precious little one in his arms.

"You're a beautiful little thing, you know," he said to Cadyn, "I don't know how your parent created two people as lovely as you and your sister but it happened,"

Cadyn stared at him with his Ashryver wide open ad curious. Usually, he would have answered with a little coo of his own but right now, he was silent.

"Still feeling a little weak, aren't you?" he said, "The healers are probably setting up now. We should get you checked out, hmm?"

Behind them, the door opened and Lorcan instantly recognized the scent.

"I did not expect you to be here," said Fenrys, "You didn't stay in your room?"

Lorcan turned to him, grinning at the younger male's surprise at seeing Cadyn in his arms.

"I spent the night," Lorcan said, answering the silent inquiry, "He was sick and crying, figured I would give his parents a break,"

Fenrys snorted as he came closer, "And I'm sure your intentions were entirely selfless. Absolutely nothing to do with spending time with _'the most adorable little thing',_ hmm?"

"You say something _once,_ " grumbled Lorcan, "And they never let it go,"

Fenrys snorted, gently stroking Cadyn's cheek. The little baby turned his head toward his other uncle, arms waving as he recognized the familiar face.

"How tired are they?"

"I really don't think they should be woken up right now, especially since they haven't gotten up themselves. Really, when was the last time Whitethorn slept in?"

Fenrys grimaced

"Their meetings," he said, "I told them they should give more responsibility to the nanny and the governess. It's what they're paid to do,"

"You can't completely blame them," said Lorcan, "They don't want to be the kind of parents that depend entirely on others to raise their children. As it is, someone is going to have to do something about those meetings now.

"Well, you're the Lord," said Fenrys

Lorcan snorted, "Yea, and then Aelin will cut my balls off for even daring to touch her schedule,"

Fenrys shrugged, "Tell her I was the one behind it,"

"Well," said Lorcan, pondering, "I suppose that could work,"

Just then Cadyn let out a small sound, the first one he had made since his crying himself out the night before.

"I think our prince agrees," murmured Fenrys, gently placing a kiss on Cadyn's head. The little boy let out a happy little squeal in answer, weakly waving his arms.

"I'm going to call Nox," said Fenrys, "The three of us will figure something out, give them a little more time,"

"Moonbeam-" Lorcan tried

"I'll get the healers for Cadyn too," Fenrys called out right before shutting the door behind him.

Lorcan sighed.

"That one still has the brain of a hyperactive child," he told Cadyn

Cadyn cooed in response.

"O _f course_ I'm right,"

xxx

When Rowan woke up, his first thought was he hadn't woken up this refreshed in a while. His second thought was _oh shit_.

The rays of sunlight coming in were completely wrong. They were supposed to be up ages ago.

 _"Shit,"_ he cursed out loud.

It was loud enough to wake his wife up too. It took her a few seconds to get her bearings right but once she did, her eyes widened.

"We are very late," she said, "Very very late. Why didn't anyone wake us up?"

"I don't know," said Rowan pulling clothes out of the closet, "But we need to get ready,"

Aelin nodded and turned her head toward the nursery door, "I'm going to quickly check on Cadyn,"

Rowan nodded as he put on his shirt, "I'll come too,"

They stepped through the door and stopped. Cadyn was laying on a blanket on the ground while Evalin was gently playing with his hands. Fenrys was curled around the children in wolf form and Lorcan was watching from where he was perched on the arm of the sofa. How he got his large body to balance there, Rowan would never know.

As soon as Evalin noticed them, she got up and started to run toward them.

"Mama! Papa!"

Rowan grinned down at his daughter, the sight of his child chasing away any irritation from having woken up late.

"Princess," he cried, matching her enthusiasm and scooped her up. The little girl giggled and kissed his cheek.

"I had breakfast with Fenrys and Uncle Lorcan," she said, as Aelin took her and kissed her head.

"Oh did you now?" said Aelin, "Now only if these males had woken us up on time,"

By now both Lorcan and Fenrys were standing and winced at her dangerous tone. 

"Uh," started Lorcan, "We moved your meetings around. The dignitaries are watching the session we were supposed to train. The tour of the gardens has been moved to a 'sunset tour' thus your meetings will not start for another hour and...let me see...twenty-two minutes,"

"Gives some more time," said Fenrys

"Oh and I took Cadyn to the healers," continued Lorcan, "He should be fine in a couple more days. Evalin is had her breakfast but we brought some extra with yours just in case she wants to eat with you,"

"Breakfast?" asked Aelin, tone carefully measured

Lorcan's eyes flicked to Rowan's for a brief moment before going back to the queen.

"Uh, yes," he said, "We thought it would be a good idea,"

"He keeps saying 'we'," said Fenrys, mischief clear on his face, "But really he was the one who arranged it. Nox and I just nodded and followed along,"

"Really?" said Aelin, voice quiet

"Fenrys Moonbeam!" hissed Lorcan and then turned toward Aelin, "Look, you were obviously tired and I figured it wouldn't be too big of a problem and it was Fenrys's idea to begin with-"

He abruptly trailed off as Aelin took a few steps forward and wrapped her arms around him. Lorcan's expression went from comically baffled to absolutely panicked. His eyes widely bounced between Rowan and Fenrys, his whole demeanour screaming 'help me!'.

Neither of the males stepped forward to help, quite content to watch his discomfort. Fenrys had even picked up Cadyn so the little prince could watch the show too. 

After a few moments, Aelin stepped back and quickly cooled her expression.

"We will blame that on the fact that I am pregnant and hormonal,"

Lorcan vigorously nodded his head, "Of course. Whatever you say,"

"Good," said Aelin and turned toward the table, "You said something about breakfast," 

Lorcan instantly took to the subject change, "It left it in the other room in a warming tray. I'll be right back,"

He stepped into a room and came back with cut-up fruit, warm eggs, bread and fresh juice. As promised there were smaller portions for Evalin. 

"Here you go," he said, setting everything on the table, "You can eat, get ready and then be down for your meeting in about an hour,"

"We can take the children if you like," said Fenrys

Aelin's eyes met Rowan's for a second and then she smiled at the wolf, "No, Fernys. It's fine,"

"Alright then," said Lorcan, already backing toward the door, "I'm going to leave now,"

Rowan smiled. The older male really wasn't hiding his desire to be out of there as soon as possible. It seemed like the show of affection from Aelin had disturbed him enough to even willingly leave Evalin and Cadyn's side. 

"We do have those recruits to look at," said Fenrsy, obviously taking pity on his former commander.

"Yes. Yes," said Lorcan, "The recruits. Have a good morning,"

With that, Lorcan practically ran out the door

"I think you might have broken him a little," said Rowan

"Maybe," said Aelin, amused

"I'm going to go make sure he's not too broken," said Fenrys, "You all try to relax a bit,"

"Thank you Fenrys," said Aelin

Once the young male was out of the door, Rowan sat down with Aelin and placed Cadyn in his lap.

"I have a pretty great court, don't I?" said Aelin while storing their daughter's hair. 

"I suppose you do," he murmured, "I suppose you do,"

**Author's Note:**

> Hope everyone enjoyed! Comments and Kudos are appreciated!


End file.
